Laurie Downey and Gretchen Berg are in the midst of another Local Stories Project with 4th graders at the South Hiram Elementary School (SAD 55) called “The Fabric of Community: the Mill Town Years at Kezar Falls.” As visiting artists, they are collaborating with 4th grade classroom teacher Terry Barnes, art teacher Cathy Adleman and the local Parsonsfield Porter Historical Society to research local history, and then work with students to create a permanent mural and performance piece based on themes from that research. In this case, there is a very specific focus – the Robinson Mill, a local woolen mill that closed in 2004. This focus fits within a social studies unit on the industrial era, taught each year to the 4th grade students. In a series of interviews, local residents who worked in the mill have been sharing their firsthand experiences and memories; Rachel Ward, Chester Chapman, and others have described their work as spinners and weavers at the mill. Students are also studying photographs and documents provided by the Parsonsfield Porter Historical Society, and there an upcoming field trip to Kezar Falls will enable the fourth graders to visit the mill site as well as other historically significant sites in the area. Students are working on a series of drawings based on the stories they hear and see. Then, during a residency with Gretchen and Laurie in early April, students will paint the mural and develop a performance piece based on these drawings and themes from their research.
There is great local interest building in this project. The woolen mill loomed large here for over 100 years, with morning, noon and “curfew” bells marking the time of day, and the constant sound of the humming, clattering machinery anywhere near the site on the Ossipee River. Hundreds of local residents found work there. The timing of the project is also good, as the town of Parsonsfield recently recieved federal funds to clean up the site, which is up for sale. Dan Flint, a selectman from Parsonsfield, even asked if we might be willing to have the students make a presentation of their work at one of their town hearings on the future of the mill! The big public unveiling and performance will be on Tuesday, April 12 at 6:30 pm at South Hiram. Stay tuned!
“The Fabric of Community” is one of an ongoing series of Local Stories projects in Maine elementary schools. This project was funded by a generous grant from the Maine Communities Foundation.
For see a short video on the Local Stories process, go to www.lauriedowney.net/schoolmurals/process.
Parsons Woolen Mill, 1880
me arts ed 